


Because the Night

by LightOnLight



Category: The Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
Genre: Anal Sex, Banter, M/M, Mind/Mood Altering Substances, Oral Sex, Rough Oral Sex, Seduction, Sex Pollen, Teasing, bloodwine 2 electric bogaloo, hint of sadness because tiste andii are drama elves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 20:43:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20234083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightOnLight/pseuds/LightOnLight
Summary: After finding a distinct bottle of wine among the ruins of Capustan, Caladan Brood decides to visit an old friend of his that could use a distraction every once in a while.Sequel-ish to Blood and Wine, but can be read standalone.





	Because the Night

Some had taken to calling it Black Coral now, the city on the east coast of Genabackis, the place of the last battle between the Pannion Domin and the allied Warhost. Caladan Brood could see where they were taking the name from, since Kurald Galain had been unveiled, the city - or what was left of it, rather - lived in eternal night.

He made his way toward Coral, following the road he had travelled since Darujhistan, where he had taken residence now and adjudicated minor conflicts. Then wanderlust had taken him and so he made his way across the continent once more. Originally he had wanted to see how far the restoration of Capustan was along, but as fate would have it, things were in flux.

In Capustan, he had been asked to survey a building the locals pronounced haunted since two necromancers resided here during the siege. Brood had looked for traces of ghosts or a curse, but instead came across a wine stash of... exotic proportions.

Among the collection were rare and poisonous wines, but also one innocent looking flask with a bulbous head. Toblakai runes were engraved in the bottle's neck, classifying it as bloodwine.

A newer form of the brew, less potent than the Thel Akai wine it had been based on, but quite a rarity so far from the Teblor plateau nonetheless. Brood had fond memories involving bloodwine and he knew another who might agree. The last time he had seen Anomander was when the negotiations with the Malazans for government of Coral had just been beginning.He started his trek to Coral the very next day.

Closing in on what was left of the city wall, he quested for the presence he was looking for. Most of the human population of Coral had either relocated to a camp at the edge of the darkness where they worshipped a new god, or found some new dwelling inside the city itself, where there was plenty of vacancy to be found.

The Tiste Andii had begun building a palace, but nothing more than walls for the first two stories were standing yet. Caladan found Anomander in a larger compound, whose original purpose was indefinable for crumpled walls now. The lord had taken up residence on the first floor of one of the compund's buildings, hunched over a map of Genabackis on his table.

"Strategizing again? And here I thought you've settled" Caladan said, languidly entering the room and carefully leaving his pack by the door.

Anomander smiled, then rose to his full height and greeted his guest. "There is always need to plan. What brings you to me, old friend?"

"Nostalgia," Brood said cryptically, grin growing as he watched the lord trying to understand his meaning. He decided to not stall more than necessary and pulled the bottle of bloodwine from his pack, setting it down on a side table that already hosted half empty wine flagons and a set of goblets. He relaid his discovery of the bloodwine to Rake, watching understanding dawn on the dark face, though it was understanding underlaid with concern.

"The times are fraught, Caladan, I know not if I can afford this... distraction," Anomander said, a frown marring his face. "Though I appreciate the sentiment, surely."

Brood scoffed, reading a note of something akin to wistfulness in the other's tone. "The times are always fraught. You could suffer loosing a little inhibition these days, methinks." He had noticed his friend drawing back from the people around him with concern. The loss of that Malazan soldier he called a friend still weighed on the Andii's shoulders, no matter how aquainted he may be with the concept.

"Oh? And you are to be the judge of that?" Anomander's brows rose, but his tone was not without humour. "Does Darujhistan so bore you, that you come all the way here in search of times long gone?"

Caladan sighed. "Well, now that I am here and reminded most irritably of your disposition, I might have to reconsider."

Rakes smile became warmer as he moved to the side table. "Easy. Time has not been friendly to you, Caladan, and I am not only talking about your looks for a change." He touched a finger to the rim of one of the goblets on the table and rubbed along it to make it sing.

"These games you play become tiring very fast, Anomander," Caladan boomed, and edge to his voice that could cut stone.

"Oh, but we would not want you to tire too early, would we?"Anomander gently took the bottle of bloodwine from Brood's hands and began filling two goblets with the dark red substance.

Sighing, but smiling nonetheless, Brood took the offered goblet and waited for a toast. "You have to complicate everything, do you not?"

They touched their goblets together and drank, keeping their eyes locked. Anomander closed his eyes briefly and licked remnants of the wine from his lips. When he opened them again, he stared at his friend intently. He pulled Dragnipur and its scabbard from his back and shoved it through the iron loops on the inside of the great double doors through which Caladan had recently entered, barring it.

He stopped momentarily, as if sensing the air around him, then began to undress. Brood himself started to take off clothes and belts - and Burn's hammer, which he deposited in front of the door aswell - when he felt the first tingle of bloodwine in him.

"Where is your bedstead?" Caladan asked, shedding his belts and breaches with a nimbleness that looked foreign on his hulking frame.

"Through the door to your right. But I admit to doubt whether we will make it that far," Anomander said, already stark naked and with a fire in his reptilian eyes that told of barely restrained violence. He came on to brood, tearing off the remainder of his shirts and crashing their mouths together in a bruising kiss.

...

They did not make it to the bed.

When Brood pulled back to reign in his breathing, Anomander was still bent over the map table where he had drooled a little on Seguleh Island, panting and seemingly unwilling to move yet. Some evidence of their coulpling dripped onto the floor beneath him. The dust they had shaken out of the stonework with the repeated impacts of the map table slowly began to settle around the room.

Caladan half walked, half stumbled backwards until he was able to let himself fall into the cushioned chair by the bedroom door. He looked over at Anomander who was carefully pushing himself up on the tabletop, breathing wetly and moving with exaggerated sloth, as if savouring every tiny ache Caladan had left behind.

The Tiste Andii remained bowed over the table, anchoring himself with both hands on the flat surface. Once his breathing came easier, he trailed some part of the map Caladan wasn't able to see from where he sat. An amused humming sound came from Anomander's throat. "It appears we have ruined Blackdog Forest."

"Again?" Caladan asked impishly, enjoying the chuckle he drew from the other. "No Cowl to spoil your fun this time, alas."

"And thank the gods for that. One of the more annoying Crimson Guardsmen, I must say." Anomander was fully upright once more and sauntered over to the side table, helping himself to another mouthful of bloodwine, all the while keeping their gazes locked. Meeting the piercing cold eyes over the rim of the goblet, Caladan Brood huffed, in equal parts irked and amused by the other's temerity. "Not done yet, are we?"

"Indeed," Anomander answered, making his way across the room into Brood's waiting arms and bringing the goblet to his lips. Caladan opened his mouth and kept his eyes on the draconean ones while swallowing what he was offered, intrigued by the desire he found there.

"A blood offering from the lord of late Moon's Spawn himself. I feel honoured," Brood smiled crookedly, watching the effect his words had on the other. The Andii's eyes had widened, the pupils shrunk needle thin. He blindly reached out to his washing basin and pulled a wet rag from it, which was promptly taken to Brood's nether parts.

"If the great Azathanai Mason will allow me a night of worship...," he trailed off, letting the empty goblet fall to the floor and dragging Brood from his perch before herding him, backwards, into the side chamber. Forgoing the bed, he pushed him up against the wall and sunk to his knees before him.

Swallowing thickly, Caladan wove a fist into silvery white hair and watched a dark mouth open and engulf him. The heat took him by surprise, as did the fervour he encountered.

"I- uh- did not think you were skilled at- One would think, ah, given your company, that you would not get a lot of ...practise."

Anomander pulled back with a wet pop, just to grin up at him, traces of fluid shining on his lips. "You would be correct in that assessment. Are my skills not to your satisfaction?"

"I am not complaining,", Caladan offered, then grinned impishly. "But a little more practise certainly won't hurt." With that he took a vigorous hold on the other's head and pulled him in again. Anomander used one hand to brace himself on Caladan's thigh, the other gripped the big hand in his hair, interwove their fingers and strengthened the grip. Brood understood and, grunting, shoved himself deeper with every roll of his hips until he felt hot puffs of air tickle his hair.

The bloodwine encroached on the edge of his perception and he let it consume him slowly. His companion was evidently feeling the same, burying sharp nails in his thighs and still trying to take him deeper, despite lack of air and constricting throat.

Caladan barely held back the thrusting of his hips, chasing his release only minutes in. It already was on the horizon, that sweet precipice to fall over, and he rode fast towards it. Then, just when he was about fall, Rake abruptly pulled back, trailing fluids from Caladan's tip, gasping: "Not yet! I still have use of this."

"You fiend!" Caladan growled, chest pumping wildly and crazed eyes following the Tiste Andii, who had gotten up gracefully and was merrily waddling towards the bed, hips swaying. "One would think your body had its limits. Yet still you risk... injury. I doubt my capacity for gentleness in the coming hours. You would do well to heed-"

"Ah-_ah_!"Obsidian skin barely hiding a dark blush, Anomander reclined on the bed. He wasn't as unaffected as he liked to pretend after all. The wine did nothing to deter the smug facade, however. Lifting one leg to wave in Caladan's face, he purred: "Has Denul forsaken you, then?"

Caladan grunted, shaking his head at the audacity. He took the other by the ankles and forcefully turned him onto his stomach. "Careful now, or I might take to the provocation."

"O, the terror," deadpanned the prone Andii lord, before being shoved into roughly .

...

Their repeat performance was less frenzied than the first, having both taken the edge off earlier. They found themselves among ruffled sheets, lying next to each other comfortably, sticky here and there. It was almost ... homely.

"What is on your mind," Caladan asked, for lack of a better thing to say.

Anomander smiled. "_Silence_."

"Good or bad?"

"Mh... good. I forgot how quiet it can be without Chaos raging at the edge of my consciousness," Anomander said, finally turning to look at him from under heavy lidded eyes. "Maybe we managed a ritual of opening."

Caladan scowled, unamused by the prospect of endearing himself to the mothergoddess unknowingly.

"I jest," Anomander said, stretching on the sheets not unlike a sated cat would. "Wandering Darkness of late remains as lonely as it has been for millennia... That's not to say I didn't appreciate your effort."

A series of loud knocks sounded from the outer chamber. In answer to Brood's questioning grunt, Anomander rose languidly and slipped into a light robe he took from a nearby chair. "It appears Spinnock has returned to us from Assail."

Caladan sat up against the headboard and graced his friend with a disapproving scowl. "You intend to involve yourself in that mess, aswell?"

Shaking his head, Anomander gave him an indulgent smile. "I will see what Spinnock has to say on that matter. Maybe we won't need to be involved, maybe we will. It could be an opportunity..." He trailed off, the distant look that Caladan had been able to banish from his eyes for the duration of their tryst creeping back into Anomander's gaze. That would not do.

"'tis a trying journey to Assail and back," Caladan groused, scratching at his beard and turning to look at the single window in the room, where he couldn't tell how much time had passed for the unrelenting darkness that was now encompassing Coral. He smiled. "Do you think Spinnock would appreciate a sip of fine wine after such an ordeal?"

Draconean eyes wrinkled at the edges when Anomander's face was transformed by a sly smile. "Well, my friend.... only one way to find out."

**Author's Note:**

> Anomander: My heart swells at the sight of you. Be gentle.  
Also Anomander, 10 minutes in: Okay, hit me with a brick.
> 
> I am also very sorry that this just breaks canon. Bauchelain would never leave behind his wine stack as long as Mancy is around to carry it.


End file.
